Th-thanks... |
Principal Skinner convinces Marge to get Bart engaged in music so that he's less likely to commit pranks (though this was done once before with modest yet temporary success). Marge agrees and takes Bart around town to find something he can take an interest in. Eventually, the two come across a Russian man, Slava, whose daughter gives piano lessons. Bart becomes smitten with the woman, Zhenya, and decides this is good enough for him. Marge and Slava agree to give Bart piano lessons if Marge gives Slava driving lessons.
Of course, Bart doesn't particularly care about the piano, Bart just wants to spend time with Zhenya. Zhenya admits she wants to gain fame and money so her father can buy a limo to drive and hopes to get it if Bart can impress people with his piano ability. Believing this to be a "do this and I'll love you" ultimatum, Bart decides to practice on the piano. Eventually, at a recital, Bart apparently plays rather well, gaining mass applause. Bart credits his ability to Zhenya, and she instantly gets offers to teach piano to other people. Its then revealed, though, that Bart actually put a CD into the piano (CD-playing pianos are actual things, when did this happen) to play the song for him.
Bart goes to see Zhenya later, but she's busy giving lessons to all sorts of kids now, and makes Bart wait outside as the house is full. Bart realizes Zhenya never returned his feelings, but now everyone thinks he's a musical prodigy even though he's not. Marge signs Bart up for another recital, where Bart admits he's a fraud. This angers Marge, upset that Bart wasted his time with those lessons, and hers to teach Slava to drive poorly for no good reason. Later, Slava goes to Marge's house to thank Marge for all she's done for him and his daughter. Marge admits to him that Bart 'cheated' at the recital, but Slava pays it no mind, saying that even if he did cheat, he did it to win the love of his daughter, and when that failed, he admitted his mistake because he cared for Marge. Marge reconciles with Bart, but punishes him anyway for cheating.
While this is all happening, Homer's top two hairs fall out, leaving him fully bald up there. Panicking, Homer wears a variety of hats throughout the episode to hide this fact. Eventually, Homer gets help from a similarly bald co-worker (voiced by Patrick Stewart) who helps Homer come to terms with his baldness. Homer finally shows Marge his bald head, but Marge shows no shock or disgust, stating how sexy his dome has become and complimenting Homer's feigned confidence. These kind acts rejuvenate Homer enough for his two hairs to magically regrow, leaving Marge relieved.
Quick Review
Quite a few guest stars in this one. Bill Hader as Slava, Jane Krakowski as Zhenya, Patrick Stewart as Homer's bald co-worker, some other guy as himself (tee hee!). A lot was being made of Justin Bieber's appearance in the episode (whose title is rather fitting), but he only provides a single, not-that-bad line preceded by a 30 second warning and followed by a "don't worry, he's gone folks" message that makes you wonder why Bieber was brought in for a guest spot to begin with.
The episode itself was unspectacular. Homer's baldness side story was decent but was short and had little going for it because Homer's odd use of hats. The main storyline was mostly boring, with Slava providing most of the humor for the episode, but it wasn't nearly enough to make this worth another watch.
Final Score: 6.0
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